The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said that the US’ withdrawal from Afghanistan is proof that the party’s policy of remaining close to Washington while maintaining peace with China is correct.
The KMT made the remarks in a statement it issued in response to a news conference held earlier yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) legislative caucus, which accused KMT members of harming the nation’s diplomatic ties with their comments on the US troops’ withdrawal.
The statement referred to an article published by the New York Times on Friday last week, which cited analysts as suggesting that Washington’s hesitation to engage militarily abroad “will now be felt all the more strongly among countries in play in the world, like Taiwan, Ukraine, the Philippines and Indonesia.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“The sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan ... will see allies and potential allies around the world wondering whether they have to decide between democracies and autocracies, and realize some democracies don’t have staying power anymore,” the KMT quoted Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, as saying in the article.
The US’ pullout proves that the KMT’s policy of being “close to the US” and pursuing “peace with the Mainland [China],” while improving Taiwan’s national defense and the economy, is correct, the KMT said.
It also shows that the DPP’s avoidance of the institutionalization of cross-strait relations is “by no means a good solution,” it added.
On national defense, the KMT accused the DPP of engaging in more talk than action, adding that this has disappointed figures in the US.
During former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) time in office, “Taiwan never had to worry about how long it could last in a war against Mainland China, and whether the US would rush to the rescue,” the KMT said.
“Now, because of the changes in the political situation in Afghanistan, Taiwanese are reconsidering the various variables in national security,” the KMT said.
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